Bhubaneswar, Jan 05: A senior official of the Vizag Steel Plant was found murdered in the state capital here in VSS Nagar area. The Commissionerate Police recovered the body early this morning.

The deceased was identified as I Surya Prasad Rao of Vishakhapatnam. He was the AGM (finance) at the steel plant. His body was found near the Hanuman temple near Sainik School in VSS Nagar area under Saheed Nagar police station.

The body has been sent to the Capital Hospital for autopsy to ascertain the cause of his death. However, the injury marks on the body suggested that it was a murder case.

Police said that an air ticket was found from the deceased. Rao had arrived in Bhubaneswar from Vizag last evening and stayed in a hotel here. He reportedly had conversation with his son at around 10.42 pm last night and after that the incident might have happened.

Police suspected any professional rivalry could have been the reason behind the murder.

According to Rao's elder son, who is a software engineer in Bangalore, his father had visited Bhubaneswar to see a bride for his younger son I Umashankar, who stays in Vizag.

However, the postmortem report would put some light in this murder case.